With eye toward the advance of Hurricane Irene and the storm surge that comes with it, the center evacuated roughly half of its patients on Thursday to facilities in Richmond and Martinsburg, W. Va.

Evacuees included 41 patients in the Spinal Cord Injury unit and another 125 in the Domiciliary, which includes homeless veterans.

The spinal cord patients traveled by bus to a VA facility in Richmond, while the Domiciliary residents face a longer trip to Martinsburg, where a VA medical there agreed to house them until the storm passes. The patients made the trip in air-conditioned buses, with meals and snacks as part of the trip.

"I didn't make the decision until seven o'clock this morning," said Deanne Seekins, Hampton VA director. "It's one of those things that you literally lose sleep over."

Because of its location at the water's edge, severe storm surge presents an immediate concern for patients there. Seekins did not rule out further evacuations as she continues to monitor Irene's path.

The Domiciliary patients are able to walk about, and were good candidates for transfer. The spinal cord injury patients are particularly vulnerable, yet they also tend to move about.

"Even though they are bound to gurneys and wheelchairs, every day they are out in the community, they're out near the water," she said. "I need to make sure if we have a surge, if we have flooding, that they can't get out there where their gurneys could get washed away."

The center has evacuated patients before in advance of oncoming storms, and some patients said they are familiar with the drill.

"I've done this several times," said John Dixon, 57, a spinal cord patient since 1997 and a 20-year Army veteran. "They make sure we have several changes of clothes, we have our batteries charged – the basics that we normally have."

The main hospital and the Virginia Beach Community Based Outpatient Clinic will remain open Friday.

For the latest hospital information, patients and family members should visit the Hampton VAMC Web site at http://www.hampton.va, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HamptonVAMC, or call 1-866-634-5029.